Form-locking connections which connect two components with one another and which are configured to receive radial forces with respect to a connection axis without clearance have to include an exact tolerance-free coincidence of the axes of the respective form-locking elements in the components to be connected with one another. When more than one form-locking connection is provided for attaching the two components at one another, wherein each form-locking connection shall provide clearance-free reception of radial forces, a geometric over-determination is frequently generated since tolerances are always generated when producing the form-locking elements, wherein the tolerances can lead to alignment errors. Such geometric over-determinations are undesirable and therefore have to be avoided.
In the citation Symonds, Pat, “Why loose wheels drive us nuts”, in RACE TECH INTERNATIONAL, vol. 17, issue 7 (May 2010), the problem of axis offset between wheel and wheel attachment is described for wheel connections.
An example for a form-locking connection of this type is illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a first and a second component 1, 2 to be connected with one another which are connected with one another through a bolt 9 with a centering cone 9′ (first form-locking element), wherein the bolt is threaded into an attachment borehole 10 in the first component 1, wherein the centering cone 9 reaches through a borehole 20 with a centering cone 22′ (second form-locking element). The bolt 9 which is for example configured as a centering bolt and which contacts with its centering cone 9′ at the centering cone 22′ of the borehole 20 provides that the two components 1, 2 are positioned relative to one another without clearance in axial direction of the bolt 9 and also in radial direction of the bolt 9. When both components 1, 2 shall be additionally connected with one another at another location through a form-locking device which is also capable of receiving forces that extend radially relative to the bolt axis, the entire connection between the two components 1, 2 is only defined geometrically when the axis X1 of the attachment borehole 10 in the first component 1 and the axis X2 of the borehole 20 in the second component 2 are identical. Due to real world production tolerances, this is typically not the case. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the two axes X1 and X2 are offset from one another by the distance Δx.
It would be possible to perform the second connection between the first and the second component 1, 2 to be connected through a screw to be threaded into the borehole 10 of the first component 1 which is for example configured as a threaded borehole, wherein the screw head is supported at the outside of the second component 2 that is on the right in FIG. 1, however a threaded connection of this type would preload the first component 1 and the second component 2 only in axial direction of the screw but would not be able to receive any forces that act radially to the axis X1. This type of connection facilitates a compensation of axis offset and minor axis angle deviation, however it is not suitable for receiving radial forces.
The first fixation of the two components 1, 2 relative to one another illustrated in an exemplary manner in FIG. 1 through the screw 9 can also be provided in another manner, for example through rivets.
An embodiment, wherein the two components are fixated relative to one another through an annular planar notch teething which is configured as a Hirth-teething is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 and is described in the figure description. The centering of a wheel, for example of a vehicle wheel at a wheel carrier through a planar notch teething and its attachment at the wheel carrier through a central locking device is known from EP 0 928 249 B1. However, the threaded connection disclosed therein is not capable of receiving radial support forces through the nut.